Artist of the Week: Katy Perry

August 23, 2010 06:18:58 GMT

With 'Teenage Dream', Katy Perry wants people to dance more and join her in a sugary sweet journey throughout the summer.

After taking the world by storm and winning multiple coveted awards with only one album, Katy Perry continues exploring her pop roots in a sophomore set "Teenage Dream" which is due August 24 in United States. A collection of fun songs and emotional ballad tracks, it is going to move fans, both physically and emotionally.

"I think some people feel like they have had success with one thing and one idea and one record and they want to pull a 180 and try a totally different thing, I definitely feel like that's the wrong move," she told Rolling Stone about her decision to stick to pop. "I feel like you just have to grow from it, you can branch off of it but keep the tree the same in some ways."

Beside keeping it pop, Perry also found herself increasingly drawn back home to Santa Barbara, California where she spent her life before becoming a superstar; before she kissed a girl and liked it. "I can't run from where I came from, nobody can," she reasoned. "I love the vibe that Santa Barbara gives off and I wanted to really tap into the purity of my childhood and that feeling."

Driven by her "jealousy" to Jay-Z's salute to New York in "Empire State of Mind", she wrote a nod to her hometown "California Gurls" and released it as a first single. She stated, "It's so great that 'Empire State of Mind' is huge and that everyone has the New York song, but what the f**k? What about L.A.? What about California? It's been a minute since we had a California song and especially from a girl's perspective."

She spent multiple weeks on Billboard Hot 100 with the "sun-kissed" song and continues invading the chart by adding a passionate, thumping title track which serves as the second single to the Top 10. Thus, she becomes only the 10th solo female in the Hot 100's 52-year history to concurrently place two titles in the top five of the U.S. singles list.

Having such acclaimed producers as Max Martin, Tricky Stewart, Stargate, Dr. Luke and Greg Wells on the line-up, the album is sure to make a notable debut on Billboard Hot 200 in its opening week. A glorious evolution from "One of the Boys", it showcases an artist who dares fans to join her as she experiences every facet of life.